Adebayor, Arsenal Legend in the making

In Emmanuel Adebayor’s first two full seasons at Arsenal he has caused mush controversy. It seems Gooners are separated, some think he’s amazing, some think he’s rubbish.

Comments about him have made me think, and I thought I’d take a little look at him.

I think he’s pretty good actually. Take a look at his stats when compared to Henry’s in his first two seasons at the club:

Henry (All competitions)

1999- 2000 2000 – 2001

Apperances – 48 Apperances – 53

Goals – 26 Goals – 22

Assists – 9 Assists – 3

Adebayor (all competitions) (I know he joined January 2006, but he only played 13 games so lets count his first full season!)

2006 – 2007 2007 – 2008

Apperances – 44 Apperances – 54

Goals – 12 Goals – 30

Assists – 4 Assists – 5

We can see from the stats that Adebayor, playing as second striker last season was not as effective as Henry in his first full season, but this season playing up front on his own he has done better in terms of goals and assists.

Remember that Adebayor wasn’t as experienced as Henry when he joined the club, he had only had 3 seasons in the first team at Monaco.

That’s very interesting. I know the stats don’t tell the whole story, and I’m not saying he is or will neccesarily be better than Henry, but it shows that he does make a quality contribution. He isn’t as fast as Henry or as good with the ball at his feet, but I would say he has dogged determinism, a good pass, he is quick and what he does better than Henry is headers!!

So all in all, although they are different players, I think you can get a glimpse from this sort of brief analysis at what a high quality player we are looking at.

I think Adebayor has the potential to be a legend, if he keeps his workrate high, and keeps on improving then Arsene is right to believe in him.